Meet the Network [TGS]

The network is ultimately about people. Not firms, not offices, not directories. The reason this works is that the people involved know each other – have worked alongside each other, tested each other’s thinking, shared difficult client situations. Here are a few of the colleagues you might work with.

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Marcus, TGS Brasil.

Marcus joined his childhood friend’s family accounting firm in 2008, bringing international experience from his time in California. Fluent in English, he works with clients coming into Brazil from North America, Europe, and China – setting up entities, managing payroll and accounting, navigating transfer pricing.

His approach to the network is straightforward: “If you refer a client to me, even if you’ve only been in the network three months, I will help you.”

For Marcus, the value of TGS comes down to the personal connections built at conferences – and the confidence of being able to tell a client: “Yes, we have someone there.”

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Marine, France

Marine is a partner and tax lawyer in Paris, fluent in French, English, and German, with over a decade of experience in international tax law. She advises companies and individuals on tax audits, transfer pricing, VAT, and cross-border taxation – with particular expertise in Franco-German tax issues.

As International Business Coordinator for TGS France – one of the largest and longest-standing firms in the network – Marine helps clients navigate complex situations across Europe and beyond. For her, the network means access to colleagues who share the same values: diversity, entrepreneurial thinking, and solutions that are genuinely tailored to the client’s situation rather than taken off a shelf.

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Mikail, Indonesia

Mikail is a partner in Jakarta leading audit, tax, and advisory work across Indonesia – a country where many international companies establish subsidiaries after setting up regional headquarters in Singapore. He maintains relationships with key institutions including the Singapore Stock Exchange and the Indonesian European Chamber of Commerce.

His view of what a network needs to be is clear: “You’re not an accounting network if the stock exchange doesn’t know you.”

His firm both sends and receives referrals as Indonesia’s economy expands. For Mikail, TGS is more than professional development – it’s a catalyst for ideas, and a way of maintaining integrity while navigating the genuine complexity of operating across very different cultures and markets.

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Pelumi, Nigeria

Pelumi is a chartered accountant in Abuja who came to the profession by accident and stayed for the impact. She leads audit and advisory work across Nigeria, and within the network has built close working relationships with colleagues in South Africa, Senegal, and Kenya.

A regular presenter at TGS conferences, she is particularly interested in how accountants can use new technology without losing what matters most about the work. “We can’t remove the human factor,” she says.

For Pelumi, the network means being able to tell clients – with confidence – that whatever they need, across whatever borders, there is someone who can help. “It gives me the confidence to handle whatever my clients need.”

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Jonathan, UK

Jonathan is a partner at Hillier Hopkins – one of the larger firms in the network – where he leads on international work and heads up marketing. He trained at what is now BDO before setting up on his own, driven by a determination to stay independent. That instinct has never left him, or the firm. Now TGS president, he brings the same fiercely independent streak to shaping the network as a whole.

Hillier Hopkins nearly didn’t join TGS at all. They were close to signing with a much larger network when a regulatory issue intervened. Jonathan had stayed in touch with Andrew, and when that door closed, he walked through this one instead – attracted by the prospect of being influential rather than insignificant, and by TGS’s strength in Europe at a moment when, post-Brexit, he expected European complexity to create plenty of work.

For Jonathan, the network is less a financial driver than a mindset one. It means being able to sit across from a client and say: yes, we have someone there. “Everything is about human relationships,” he says. “People do business with people.” He goes to the conferences, works hard, sleeps little, and finds it thoroughly enjoyable.